Contact: Allison Matthews
Mississippi State's Master of Business Administration programs, both on-campus and online, now are listed among the Top 100 in the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings.
While the college's distance MBA program was nationally ranked last year by the publication, the recently released 2014 report marks a milestone for the on-campus MBA program, in that it tied with two other universities for a Top 100 ranking.
Dean Sharon Oswald said having the College of Business with a ranked MBA program within five years was among her goals when she came to MSU in 2011.
"We did it in less than three years," she said, proudly. "It was a group effort of faculty and MBA staff that made this happen. The transformation in the program has been monumental."
Oswald said the college--one of the South's oldest business programs--is home to great researchers and award-winning teachers. The ranking means a great deal to all who work there since it indicates how MSU is attracting and graduating top students--and that these achievements are being noticed by peer institutions, she added.
"Since the rankings have come out, I have heard from several deans throughout the country congratulating us on this achievement," Oswald said. "This ranking was out of a field of 453 public and private institutions nationwide, and I am thrilled to see MSU included among the best."
Oswald praised faculty members who she said have "passion for what they do, and will do anything they can to help our students realize their fullest potential."
She noted that MBA majors are challenged daily through real-world projects.
"The business consulting class has them solving real work problems for companies literally around the world," she said. As an example, she pointed to a team that last semester completed a sustainability project for a Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. operation in the Congo.
"The strategic marketing management class teaches them how to operate and succeed in a competitive environment as teams compete against each other to market a common product," she said.
Oswald said both the on-campus and distance MBA programs operate with the same high standards of admission, academic rigor and retention.
"While you get the one-on-one camaraderie with fellow students in the on-campus program, the distance program provides the advantage of flexibility and convenience," she said.
For more about the College of Business, visit www.business.msstate.edu.
Additional information about Mississippi State University may be viewed at www.msstate.edu/.